MICAH - A TEACHER’S GUIDE THE CENTRAL QUESTION: What does this book/story say to us about God? This question may be broken down further as follows: a. Why did God do it/allow it? b. Why did He record it for our study? 1. Does the book of Micah add anything significant to your picture of God? Would the message about God be just as clear without this small book? Amos, Isaiah and Hosea were contemporaries of Micah. Do you see any similarities in their writings? Micah (short for Mikayah, the name means “Who is like Yahweh?”) prophesied between 739 - 686 BC - under kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. (See Micah 1:1) He probably began shortly after Hosea and Isaiah with whom he was contemporary. Amos was a few years earlier. Micah wrote to both kingdoms–Judah and Israel. He was a country person, and a champion of the poor. Nothing is known about Micah except what we have in the book itself, and possibly the statement in Jeremiah 26:18,19. “‘Who is like the Lord?’ is the meaning of the name ‘Micah,’ which is a shorter form of ‘Micaiah.’ He was one of the eighth-century prophets, together with Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, and Jonah, and is mentioned in Jeremiah 26:18. Micah’s home was Moresheth Gath (1:14) in the lowlands of Judea, about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem. He was a man of the countryside who was concerned for other countrymen.” (Believer’s Study Bible) “Micah, like Amos, is a countryman. But unlike Amos he does not come from a bare desert; his home at Moresheth is green and fertile, with abundant cattle–grazing, cornfields and olive-groves. He has the sturdy independence of the man who lives on the land, and, being close to scenes of battle, he is contemptuous of those who ‘sit at ease in Zion’ and do not see the dangers.” (The Four Prophets - Micah, J. B. Phillips) “Micah is certainly one of the lesser known prophets. Even prophetic books of similar size, such as Amos, Joel, and Jonah, seem to be more famous. Part of the reason is that these three divine spokesmen have interesting personal stories in their books, which add human interest. Micah lacks such tales. In particular Micah seems to live in the large shadow of his famous contemporary, Isaiah. I believe this obscurity is unjustified. Micah has an important message that deserves to be heard and that will richly reward the believer who takes the time to listen carefully to what he says. “Micah’s book is unique in the way it is structured. The typical prophetic book follows a certain overall pattern made up of two major parts. Part one is doom or judgment. Often the doom is divided into two sections–a specific doom on God’s people and a general judgment or doom on surrounding nations. The second major part of the pattern is hope–hope that God will restore what has been lost in judgment. Typically, the doom section is longer than the hope section. Micah deviates from this usual pattern in that while most prophetic books go through only one doom–to–hope cycle, Micah repeats the cycle three times in his book. These three cycles are found in 1:2–2:13; 3:1–5:15; and 6:1– 7:20. Each of the three sections begin with the word hear or listen (1:2; 3:1; 6:1), and each of their hope sections contain the motif of shepherding (2:12; 4:8; 5:4 (NIV); 7:14) (see Alexander et al., 145). This pattern ties the book together in a unity that may not be apparent at first.... “Micah’s introduction (1:1) tells us that he prophesied under three Judahite kings–Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Although the prophet does comment on the northern kingdom of Israel, this statement shows that Micah clearly sees himself as a Judahite. His book demonstrates a deeply sensitive understanding of the social ills of his day, particularly as they relate to the southern kingdom. Jotham (750–735 B.C.), Ahaz (735–715), and Hezekiah (715–686), although of the same dynasty, had very Micah - A Teacher’s Guide - page 1 of 10 different characteristics. Jotham, according to 2 Kings (15:34, 35), did what was right in the sight of the Lord, even though his people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. Ahaz, his son and successor, was one of the most evil of Judahite kings. He even sacrificed his own children in the fire (2 Chron. 28:3) and did not shrink from putting an idol into the temple precincts itself (2 Kings 16:10-12, 14-17). Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, did all he could to reverse the religious evil endorsed by his father. He earned the praise of the writer of 2 Kings (18:5), ‘There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.’ The bulk of the material in Micah seems to relate to the period of the first two of these three kings. “The dominant foreign power during the period of Micah was Assyria. Both Judah and Israel, as well as their neighbors, were heavily influenced by what Assyria did. Most nations at that time had conscripted citizen armies, but Assyria had a large full-time professional army, which none could match. As conquests were made, mercenaries were hired on as soldiers as well. Supported by heavy tributes exacted from subjugated territories, this professional army was free to enforce Assyrian rule and make new conquests. “Three significant events took place during the era of Micah that were related to Assyria (see Barker, 1370): “1. In 734-732 B.C. Tiglath Pileser III led a campaign against parts of Israel and Judah, as well as Syria and the land of the Philistines. Assyria won a resounding victory. All the nations had to pay tribute, but the northern kingdom of Israel suffered the most and lost most of its territory (2 Kings 15:29). “2. In 722-721 B.C. Shalmaneser V of Assyria besieged the northern kingdom’s capital of Samaria (2 Kings 17:5, 6). The city eventually fell to Sargon II, and large numbers of its inhabitants were deported. “3. During the reign of Hezekiah in 701 B.C., Judah unwisely joined a revolt against Assyria. King Sennacherib overran much of the country, but Jerusalem was spared in the end. “Micah’s book must be read in the light of these events. The prophet was obviously a keen observer of current events, and God’s message to him speaks to his contemporary situation.” (Bible Amplifier Series - Micah, Jon Dybdahl) “Micah received his messages from the Lord in the reigns of Jotham, 750 (beginning his sole reign in 740) -731 B.C., Ahaz, 735(731)-715 B.C., and Hezekiah, 729(715)-686 B.C., kings of Judah (1:1). The historical background is relevant. Under Uzziah (Azariah), 792(767)-740 B.C., the southern kingdom of Judah, together with the northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam II, had prospered and gained territory while Assyria was weak. Assyria revived under Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 B.C.), who made both Damascus and Israel his vassals by 739 B.C. These vassals tried to enlist Ahaz of Judah to join in rebellion against the Assyrians, but Ahaz told the Assyrians of their plan. As a result Ahaz became dependent upon the Assyrians and introduced Assyrian worship to Jerusalem. Damascus fell to the Assyrians (732 B.C.), as did Samaria, capital of Israel, in 722 B.C. The Assyrians, who had started deporting the people of Israel ten years before, vigorously continued the work of deportation. Hezekiah of Judah tried to secede from the Assyrian Empire, and as a result his country was overrun in 701 B.C., though Jerusalem was not taken (cf. 2 Kin. 19:34–37). “In an age in which men’s religion was making no difference to their lives, Micah insisted that the God of Israel and Judah expects His people ‘to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God’ (6:8). The result of living in defiance of God’s covenant had always been clear (cf. Deut. 28:15–68). Disobedience brings judgment. Nevertheless, Micah sees beyond the fall of Israel and the Exile of Judah to the incarnation of Christ and to the blessings of the millennial kingdom. As the prophecy ends, he marvels at the grace of the God who forgives.” (Believer’s Study Bible) Micah - A Teacher’s Guide - page 2 of 10 “Much of Micah’s prophecy is very severe in tone, though it does contain much poetic beauty similar to that of Isaiah. In many ways the Book of Micah is a ‘sister-book’ to Isaiah. It has been called ‘Isaiah in shorthand’.... “The theme of the prophecy is sin, judgment, and restoration. This can be seen by the fact that the book consists of three discourses, each of which sets forth (1) the people’s sin, (2) God’s judgment, and (3) God’s ultimate restoration of His sinning people.” (King James Version Study Bible) “The Book of Micah has numerous points of similarity with the much longer Book of Isaiah. In fact, virtually the same passage is found in both books (compare Micah 4:1-3 with Isa. 2:2–4). Some attribute this unusual phenomenon to one prophet borrowing from the other, but it is difficult to argue for the priority of either Micah or Isaiah from the texts.